Deuteronomy 21:15
by Aisling-Siobhan
Summary: [Tony/Loki] Loki is married off to the Avenger best suited to keep him under control. Unfortunately Loki ends up falling in love with Tony, who is rather unwilling to act on his own feelings, because the Avengers are brothers-in-arms and Bruce is his science bro, and as Clint always says, "Bros before hoes".


This was a prompt for twodefenestrate on Tumblr, but they didn't write it so I asked for (and was granted) permission to give it a go.

"**Deuteronomy 21:15**"

**Disclaimer: ** The Avengers, Tony, Loki, etc belong to Marvel, Stan Lee, et co. I make no money from this and own nothing, don't sue.

**Summary: ** [Tony/Loki] Loki is married off to the Avenger best suited to keep him under control. Unfortunately Loki ends up falling in love with Tony, who is rather unwilling to act on his own feelings, because the Avengers are brothers-in-arms and Bruce is his science bro, and as Clint always says, "Bros before hoes".

**Warnings: ** Slash. Loki/Tony. Post-Avengers. Angst. AU. FrostIron. Tumblr prompt. Feels. Bruce/Loki (arranged marriage). Mentions of past Tony/Bruce(Tony/Hulk).

**Rating: ** NC-17.

**A/N**: I saw this prompt on Tumblr and I couldn't resist. The prompter was anonymous, but if they are reading this: I hope you like it, even if I'm not quite who you wanted filling it.

**Title: ** It's not quite right, but I liked the quote: "_If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated…_" from **Deuteronomy 21:15**. In this case though, Loki is the wife, with a hated husband and another beloved. Also see **21:10–21:13**; pretty much Loki.

_XXX_

**Words: **12,242

**Chapter 1**

"So, what you're saying is," Tony said after a long moment of silence, "one of us have to marry him?" The other Avengers glanced awkwardly around the room, looking between one another and the delegation from Asgard that almost seemed to take up the entire room. Then lastly at Loki, still chained and muzzled and standing alone in the corner of the room, Mjölnir keeping him rooted to the ground.

"Well," Steve started, while rubbing at his chin. He looked nervous, and it made Tony's eyes narrow.

"Oh! Oh no, no, no, absolutely not! I refuse, don't even think about it bud!" He pointed one angry finger right up in Thor's face, wagging it as one would do to a dog that needed scolding. Thor just stared back at him in confusion, brows furrowed together, heavy over narrowed blue eyes. "I am not marrying Loki!"

There were a chorus of chuckles throughout the room, the loudest coming from the Asgardians and even Loki snorted softly behind his muzzle. "Nay, my friend!" Thor cried, clapping Tony hard enough on the shoulder to have him tilting to the left from the force of it. "Most certainly not."

"Well the way you were all awkwardly looking _around_ me was kind of freaking me out, buddy. Try not to be so suspicious next time. And," he drawled, glancing around at the others (and only then noticing that Bruce was surprisingly not present; or perhaps unsurprisingly, considering the Hulk's last meeting with Loki), "I gotta say, I'm a little hurt. You've all obviously been having super-secret boyband secret meetings without me."

Steve cleared his throat loudly. He was rubbing at his chin again, and Tony was starting to think that maybe it was his default setting for awkward moments. Blue eyes looked right over Tony's head, staring at the Asgardians who were watching in silence. At the very front was an old man, who could have been Fury's intergalactic twin considering the eye patch and the scowl he was wearing.

"Well you see," the Captain said at last, and then trailed off into silence again.

"You weren't the only one not involved." Natasha told him. She had her arms crossed over her chest and her feet spread apart with a little bend in the knee, and to Tony it looked like she was getting ready to bolt. "The Allfather was hoping that you would pass on a message from him."

"To who?" Tony rubbed at his forehead. The only people who had been missing before he arrived where himself, Pepper and— "Oh hell no! You cannot be serious."

Loki's eyes were narrowed and he turned to face them fully, no longer half hidden in the shadows in the corner of the room. He hadn't been told yet who he was supposed to marry; he had only been told that the Avenger they had picked would be the one most likely to keep him controlled. He had assumed they meant Stark, because he had mentioned finding the human intelligent and interesting, and the man's brains would be more than enough to keep Loki entertained for at least a month before he would inevitably escape. But then he had thought of the Captain who was almost as strong as an Asgardian, almost as tall, and who had held his own against Loki in Stuttgart. But then he wondered if men were even allowed to marry other men on Midgard, and he thought of the Black Widow, who had tricked him on board the helicarrier. Perhaps it was her who had been chosen to cage him and her who would suffer first once Loki broke free?

It was why Loki had been shocked and interested when all of those people had been rejected. For whom else could it be? Thor was his brother, by the Thunderers own admission (not Loki's), and so they could not marry, and the archer despised him so much that Loki's safety could not be guaranteed. Thor had promised no harm would come to him, so it could not be Barton, but who else was there? The Director? Stark's woman? He snorted as he thought of the Beast, trying to imagine anyone willing to marry him, and his thoughts froze upon the word 'willing' for he was _not_ willing and Banner was not present.

A muffled scream escaped him, and Loki lurched backwards, crashing into the wall and falling without hands to catch himself. He hunched on the floor, breath coming in rapid pants that could barely reach his mouth through the muzzle and couldn't get up his nose fast enough. He couldn't breathe for a moment, until hands were on his back, rubbing lightly until he had calmed down a little. The hands stayed where they were, even after they stopped rubbing and Loki glanced up in shock to meet Stark's brown eyes.

"See," the engineer scoffed, "really bad idea."

Clint scowled as Tony helped Loki back to his feet. Everyone else just watched them, though Odin's remaining eye had narrowed.

"The Beast is the best suited to keep Loki in check. Loki fears him. The Beast is stronger than all of you, more than capable of holding his own and winning should my son start another fight upon your planet. It would be beyond cruel to deprive him of his magic completely, it is a part of him, like mortals breathe Loki has magic, and so we have only limited it. But there is still enough of it within him for him to cause damage should he choose to. The Beast was picked with the belief that should it come down to a choice between mischief and punishment by the Beast's hands or remaining behaved, Loki would choose the later." Odin sighed deeply once he had finished speaking. He nodded at his eldest son, who took that as a cue to move towards Loki and pull Tony away.

"Friend Stark," Thor began to say, but stopped when Tony held his hand up.

"First, don't call him that. His name is Bruce. Beast is one of the X-Men and _chose_ that name. Second, this is a really shitty idea. Third, Bruce doesn't particularly like being the Hulk. He tries very hard not to be the Hulk, so Rudolph I have to warn you he'll be extra angry if you _make_ him Hulk out for no reason, capiche? And fourth, can I ask, and honestly, it's in your kids best interests to answer honestly, but is this marriage like one of those old type 'ten cows for your daughter, have to consummate it before it's real' marriages? Because I don't recommend it, the consummation I mean." Tony brushed Thor's arm off his shoulder. He glanced at Loki again, checking to see how calm the God was and finding him not hunched over having a panic attack again Tony walked towards the bar. "I need a fucking drink," he muttered to himself.

"Why?" Steve asked, confused. Tony thought for a moment how fucking naïve the man was, over seventy years old and asking questions about sex. "Didn't you fondue with Bruce before?"

"This is why we met without the both of you. We didn't want to take Banner by surprise if it could be helped, but considering your relationship with the doctor we had hoped that you might break the news to him. The…" Natasha paused, rolling her eyes, "other guy is fond of you, Tony."

"Yeah," Tony agreed, in between knocking back one drink and pouring the next. "The Hulk is fond of me, which is why when I was having sex with Bruce, sex, Cap, say it with me, sex," he paused and chuckled, voice low as he teased his teammate. "As I was saying. When I was having sex with Bruce, who Hulked out in the middle of it, the Hulk's fondness for me is what kept me from getting smashed. Hulk has zero fondness for Loki. Loki will get smashed. You'll end up with a nice bowl of Loki puree to take back with you the morning after. Am I making this clear enough for the Asgardian inquisition to follow?"

Thor and his father traded concerned looks. Loki's face had gone pale, no trace of anger or fear visible now, just a worrying blankness and a widening of his eyes to show how far gone past fear he was now.

"Perhaps, somebody else could take the doctor's place during the consummation? It could be overlooked given the circumstances, and the marriage would still be acknowledged should the Allfather agree." Thor glanced away from his father then, gauging the reactions of his new friends. Loki had his back pressed against the wall, using it to keep his legs from giving out under him. Tony had gone back to standing beside him, waiting and watching, because panic attacks were the worst and Tony had been there often enough to know that it was easier to breathe if someone was there to help you through it. Clint and Natasha traded narrow eyed looks and immediately vetoed themselves as the stand in. Steve went bright red, and Tony couldn't decide if he'd never had sex before or if he was just shy talking about it, but he seemed to have known exactly what Tony and Bruce had been doing a fortnight ago when he had almost walked in on them.

Thor's eyes landed on Steve, because Steve was a good man and could be trusted to not hurt Loki on purpose. Everyone else's eyes followed. Automatically, like it was a built in self-defence system, Steve's arm rose to point at Tony. "Tony likes sex more than me!"

Brown eyes widened with shock. He choked, sputtered a little but swallowed the drink in his mouth before he laughed. "Now, Cap, I would have gone with 'Tony's a whore and he'll fuck anything that moves' personally, but your one is true too. If a little tame." Tony looked at the others, one by one, and sighed in resignation. "So, you're all going to overlook Pepper and Bruce, who I only slept with because I had Pepper's permission? You're not even going to let me call her first?"

Odin cleared his throat. The spear he had been holding onto the entire time he was upon Midgard clanged loudly when he hit it off of the ground, and at the sound each Asgardian stood up straighter, shoulders back, faces expectant. Tony had to admire that sort of conditioning. Even the soldiers with him in Afghanistan were more people than soldier, serious and efficient but relaxed and human too; these guys were like machines, blank faced, eyes trained on the Allfather and their swords unsheathed, but not heavy apparently, because not one of them had lowered their arm from the salute position since they'd arrived. Thor and Loki were the odd men out, as always lately, because Thor was unarmed and smiling and Loki was bound, but even at that they both straightened up and faced their father, something like dread on both of their faces.

"So be it. Go, fetch your Bea-" Odin coughed, interrupting himself as he thought better of using that word again, "Banner. Bring him here. Loki will be married to him and then we will depart. Thor, I leave it to you to oversee the consummation, which the Man of Iron has volunteered to carry out."

"It's going to be like that, is it?" Tony asked, scowling. No one answered him, so he knocked back his drink and slammed the glass down on the table closest to him. "Your family suck," he muttered to Loki under his breath. The darker God snorted, focusing on the memory of Tony's hands rubbing comfortingly along his back instead of the thoughts of the Beast he was to wed, because he could not panic again, would not show vulnerability before his enemies again if he could help it.

"Right, you all might want to clear out for a while. This'll be messy." Tony grabbed the bottle as he walked passed the bar, drinking from the mouth of it as he headed towards the door. "Jarvis, alert the good doctor for me would ya? Tell him to meet me in the training room. I have something awesome to tell him."

A minute passed, and Tony ignored his friends' whispered 'good luck's as he slipped through the door. Jarvis called after him, the British lilted voice sounding through the two rooms as the door remained open. "Doctor Banner expresses his concerns regarding anything you might find 'awesome', Sir."

Tony huffed, laughing softly into the bottle. "So he should, J."

_XXX_

Suffice to say, it hadn't gone well. Fortunately the training room was actually a nuclear bunker that Tony's father had been paranoid enough to draw the blue prints for back during the war but had never used and Tony had been spiteful enough to build underneath New York because fuck Howard, that's why. It had, also fortunately, been reinforced several times since Tony had first met Bruce, so while the foundations shook a little, no permanent structural damage was caused by the other guy.

Tony also had survived the incident unscathed. It had, however, taken half an hour of petting the Hulk's shoulder comfortingly, while curled up in the crook of one large green arm, for Tony to calm him down enough to change back. Red faced, Bruce had cast his eye around the room, taking in the mess the other guy had made before mumbling, "Shall we?" He held the door open and let Tony pass through first, keeping the engineer in front of him even after they joined the others because the Hulk was less likely to go through Tony than around anyone else to get to Loki.

They got married in silence. Bruce kept his hands clenched at his sides; green flecked eyes kept darting to the left where Tony stood, smiling encouragingly and offering two thumbs up every time Bruce met his eyes. Loki's muzzle was removed so that he could agree in all the right places, followed by Bruce's barely audible "I do", when the Allfather fell silent and motioned either of them to speak.

There was no blessings for their union, no spells or incense, no hopes for children. This was not something to be celebrated. So no one remained once the Allfather had finished the ceremony, no one needed to watch the consummation, but Bruce had to be there. As Thor had explained, Bruce needed to spill his seed upon his bride for the marriage ceremony to have been considered concluded. So Tony found himself in a room with Loki on the bed and Bruce curled in half on a chair closest to the door. Bruce kept his back to the wall and Loki his back to the headboard, and each of their hands trembled while Tony watched.

He didn't know who to comfort first, or if he should even bother because honestly Bruce looked about a minute away from an incident and this far gone keeping Loki from getting battered took priority over failing to calm Bruce down.

"There are no attendants?" Loki asked his voice little more than a whisper. When he had married Sigyn, her handmaidens had taken care of her, bathed her and braided her hair and prepared her so that all Loki needed to do was press into her body and take his pleasure from her. He had never heard of a husband carrying out the preparations, not even Thor during the short time he had been married to Sif, but there were no handmaidens here and Loki had been given nothing to prepare himself with, no oils, or water, or gels, and he cringed at the thought of being taken dry and unprepared.

"Uh?" Tony glanced at him and shrugged. "No. No attendants. Don't worry, Rudolph. I'll take care of you." The God flinched. He stripped mechanically, buttons first, then straps and clasps and hooks, until his shirt and armour were on the floor and he was left in plain black trousers. His shoes had been left at the door and his feet were bare, toes curling into the carpet as he sought to ground himself. "Well, somebody's in a hurry," Tony joked, even as his own fingers moved to unzip his jeans. He left his shirt on; he always left his shirt on with anyone other than Pepper, since Afghanistan, but he pushed down his jeans and stepped out of them easily, kicking them aside.

"How do you want me to lie on the bed?" Loki asked. His voice hitched; something like panic was clawing its way out of his gut and painting across his features as he watched Tony strip off his boxer shorts. He scrambled to push down his trousers, not wanting to keep Stark waiting for him, because he should have been ready and waiting for his husband at least ten minutes before the man had arrived. If he had been on Asgard someone would have made sure he was ready, would have made sure he could not offend his husband while there was still a chance the man might change his mind and leave.

"Hey, hey!" Warm hands caught Loki's wrists, the thumbs rubbing lightly over his pulse point. "Calm down. This is your wedding night, remember. I'm just here to please, so calm down. Ok?" Loki gave a stiff nod, though he kicked at the trousers that remained tangled around his ankles. Tony ignored the fact that the other man was still soft, bending down to help him out of the trousers. "There we go," he said softly, while running one hand lightly across Loki's hip, trying to comfort him. "I don't know how you guys do things up there, but let's do this the Tony Stark way for tonight, huh?"

With that Tony lent forward, catching slack lips with his own, and Loki couldn't stop the moan that escaped him as a hand tangled in his hair and a tongue forced itself into his mouth. The taste of coconuts and whiskey burst over his senses, and Loki's arms came up immediately to cling to the human whose kiss was making his knees weak. Tony kissed him like he was drowning and Loki was all the air left in the world, hard and desperate and demanding, hands fisting black hair and a knee hooked around Loki's legs to pull them flush together. Loki held on tight, both arms around Tony's neck, and he pulled back to pant against the man's shoulder when they needed to breathe. He hardly noticed Tony walking him back towards the bed, but Tony could feel the hot ridge of Loki's cock pressing against his hip, the shallow thrusts the God gave whenever they weren't close enough together already.

"On your knees," Tony ordered as soon as Loki's knees hit the bed. The God eyed him warily, green rings around a sky full of black in his eyes, just as beautiful, and Tony stared into them until Loki moved. His arms were shaking again, and he took pains not to glance at the corner of the room where Banner watched and waited.

All of his muscles were rigid, and Loki clenched his jaw, fisted his hands around the blankets, as he prepared himself for the pain. None of his other lovers, of which there had been many, had took proper time to prepare him and magic had meant he was usually well prepared anyway (except with Svadilfari for obvious reasons) but not this time, because he and Tony had entered the room together so he had had no time to prepare, and of all the things the Allfather had limited the ability to call up magical lube was, hysterically, one of them.

But Tony's hand was a warm presence on the base of his spine again, rubbing soothing circles as the man climbed onto the bed behind him. His arms still shook and his thighs still trembled, even as Stark tried to calm him down, with soft hands and tender kisses pressed to the cheeks of his arse, Loki still had to bite back a cry as the man parted his cheeks. Instead of the forceful bluntness of penetration, something else touched him there. Loki gasped, pushing back against the tongue that licked around the rim of his hole twice before stiffening and pushing its way inside, licking out of him again and again as he shuddered beneath the wet touches. One of his hands curled over his mouth; muffling the moans he couldn't hold back as a finger pressed into him alongside Tony's tongue.

Two fingers made Loki squirm, and not in pleasure, so Tony pulled back, riffling through the bedside table drawer until he found a tube of something. It turned out not to be lube, but rather hand moisturiser that belonged to Pepper, and the engineer glanced at it and then at Bruce who shrugged, before he popped the cap and poured it over the fingers of one hand. The two fingers pressed back inside of Loki, though this time Tony kept his tongue out of play, because moisturiser wasn't made to be eaten. Instead, he pressed kisses along the ridges of Loki's spine, nipping every other bump until Loki was writhing under his touch. Tony had barely managed to curl his free hand around Loki's erection before the God was coming, muscles jerking and body shaking, his arse clenching around Tony's three fingers while semen coated his other hand.

The engineer continued to kiss along Loki's back, the hand he had come over moving to pull the pale hand away from the God's mouth. Sticky fingers pushed their way inside instead, running over Loki's lips and teeth and tongue until the God got the hint and started to suck on them. Pale legs spread themselves further apart, having found his release and now waiting for the human to take him but hopefully not the Beast as well. Instead, when Tony deemed his fingers clean enough, he used them to cup Loki's jaw, turning the man's face until he was staring straight at Bruce. The scientist's eyes were green flecked again, but otherwise he appeared calm as a cucumber. If not for the cock that peeked out through the open fly of his pants, red and swollen and dripping with pre-come, Loki would never have guessed the other man was affected at all.

"On your back, Loki," Tony whispered, fingers stroking along Loki's jaw.

The God was so surprised by the use of his real name that he turned over without urging, spreading his legs again to offer himself, though he kept his eyes on the doctor, who, fortunately, didn't move from his seat. Loki wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to take Bruce's seed if the man was incapable of consummating his own marriage, but perhaps Stark's would suffice in place?

When penetration once more was not forthcoming, Loki turned back to Tony. The man was at the other end of the bed, with his face hovering over Loki's crotch, and the shit eating grin he wore only grew when Loki hummed at him questioningly. Hot breath fanned over his cock, and Loki couldn't stop his back from arching up off of the bed. A strangled groan escaped his throat as Tony took his cock into his mouth, swallowing once around the head before pulling back to lick a strip up the underside, the flat of his tongue pushing hard against the vein there. Loki jerked under his touch, back bowing as he was sucked on, hands fighting not to fist into Tony's hair and push his head down further, and his cock stirred to life again. When the God was fully erect, Tony pulled away, ignoring the piteous whine Loki released as their bodies separated completely.

"Nice refractory period, Blitzen," Tony complimented. "Condom?" He glanced over at the drawer that was supposed to hold them, which was also supposed to have lube but hadn't, only to find it condom-free as well. Instead, all of Pepper's stuff seemed to be in there instead and Tony sighed, knowing that she had put them somewhere else but not knowing where. "Guess not."

Loki's response was to moan, cant his hips up towards Tony in offering as his hands reached for the human's shoulders, to pull him back down.

Tony took him bareback, the head of his cock nudging lightly against Loki's hole for a moment before pushing in just a little, stopping when the God tensed up. "Hey, I got you," Tony whispered, moving one hand up to rub lightly at Loki's stomach. He thrust again, a shallow movement of his hips that had him sliding inside just a little bit more, and again, until Loki grew impatient. He locked his legs around Tony's waist and pulled down, raise his hips up at the same time, so that the human sank down on top of him and his cock pressed into him fully, ignoring the scream Loki let out. The fullness was sudden, something he hadn't had in many years, and almost unbearable, but Tony waited, hands firmly holding him up and hips still until Loki bucked beneath him invitingly.

Tony fucked like he kissed, demandingly. Loki met every one of his demands with a thrust of his own, hands tangled in hair or nails biting into flesh, it mattered not, because everything Tony did to him Loki accepted and reciprocated, arching into every thrust, biting his lips with every kiss and bearing his throat so that Tony could bite down when he came. The skin was dark and red when Tony pulled away, licking lightly over the mark before turning his face towards Bruce instead. Loki was still hard, panting beneath the other man whose seed began to escape him as they separated. Tony kept him pinned though, arms up by Loki's head and legs pressed between Loki's own and he kissed lightly along Loki's jaw as he invited Bruce to join them.

The scientist was stroking himself slowly when Loki glanced over. He arched up, to brush his erection against Tony's abs, but he froze the moment Bruce stood up. Banner stood at the edge of the bed, right before Loki's face and the God couldn't help but turn his head to hide against Tony's throat.

Tony allowed it, reaching down instead of grab hold of Loki's hand and bring it up to Bruce's dick. "Stroke him," he ordered, though his voice was soft.

Bruce panted heavily above them as Tony reached down for Loki's cock, fingers wrapping tightly around his length and pulling in time with each of Bruce's thrusts. Bruce's hips rocked, cock fucking itself through the ring of Loki's fingers because the God was too frozen to actually do any of the work himself, but that suited Bruce fine. He preferred to be in control. Loki kept his eyes on Tony, kept his focus on Tony and the feel of Tony's hand around his dick, pulling another orgasm out of him with narrow minded focus, until all Loki could see was the inside of his eyelids painted with stars and all he could hear was his own hoarse cry of "Anthony!"

When Bruce came it was with a growl. His eyes had stayed on Tony's face, and the brown eyed engineer had held his gaze, even as Loki came to pieces beneath him, distracted completely from Bruce's impending lack of control. Seed spilled over Loki's fingers, and the God's head snapped around to face the scientist, fast enough to catch the sight of the Hulk bursting out of Bruce's skin, chest heaving and clothes splitting apart at the seams. His cock was green and heavy and huge, the width of Loki's thigh, and the God's body tensed at the thought of being bedded by such a creature.

"Shush," Tony whispered as his hands once again rubbed soothing circles on Loki's skin. "Fear doesn't help; it makes the other guy worse. Just try and stay calm ok. You're ok, I have you, alright."

Tony didn't move at all: he kept himself completely spread out over Loki, the God's face tucked against his neck, his legs around Tony's waist and arms around his neck, clinging to the mortal as he trembled in terror, the rest of his body was hidden beneath Tony's, the sweaty t-shirt the mortal wore big enough to hang down at one side just enough to hide much of Loki's skin from view. Brown eyes blinked slowly, waiting with a patience he didn't often show for the Hulk to look up at him. When radioactive green eyes met his own Tony simply grinned.

"Hey Big Guy," he greeted with an accompanying wave. "What do you think of Loki's technique?"

Hulk's eyes narrowed and he took one ground shaking step closer to the bed before he stopped and simply stared. He remembered the smell of the puny God who had tried to hurt them only two months ago, but all he could see was his Tin Man, entwined with someone else. "Puny God?" Hulk questioned. Loki, with urging from the hand Tony had fisted in his hair, turned his face enough for the other guy to catch a glimpse of it. He blinked, green little more than thin rings in his eyes he was so scared, but the Hulk only blinked back. He collapsed to the floor, legs curling under him unconcerned that the weight of him meeting the ground so roughly had knocked over a bookcase and all its assorted treasures.

"Your Puny God?" Hulk questioned again.

"Nope," Tony drawled, making the 'p' pop. "He's yours."

That, it seemed, was enough to confused the Hulk enough to irritate him, and he slammed one huge hand against the wall like a wrecking ball, taking out a chunk of plaster and brick, and then another and another, destroying whatever he could get his hands on because he didn't _want_ the God, but he didn't know how to say it so he smashed until he was tired enough that he simply collapsed to his knees. All the while, Loki trembled, letting out terrified whimpers that even Tony couldn't silence. Warm hands kept rubbing circles on pale skin, whispers of "everything's ok, I got you," helped but couldn't completely block out the sounds of the Hulk's rampage. Tony held him tight until it was over and Bruce was left panting heavily, hunched over on the ground.

"Sorry about the room," Bruce whispered once he had gotten his breath back.

Tony glanced around, eyebrow climbing up his forehead as he took it all in; because damn, but this was the least messy incident he had ever seen. Everything in the room was broken, except the bed and the two men on it, but the door and the walls were still standing and the ceiling hadn't caved in yet, so Tony only shrugged and smiled and murmured, "No biggie."

"I'll, uh," Bruce mumbled as he searched for something to wear, "leave you guys alone." He ended up in Tony's jeans which were about the right length but a little too tight in the waist, so he left them unbuttoned before making his escape.

The other Avengers were waiting in the living room, where Hulk had once made a mosaic out of the floor using Loki's face, and each of them had a weapon out and pointed at him when Bruce walked shame faced into the room. "Uh," he greeted them softly, while rubbing nervously at the back of his neck. "Everything is ok. Everyone, too," he added as Thor took a step towards him. "That went well?"

Thor's eyes slipped closed, relief written all over him, and Steve seemed pleased too, but Clint only scowled and rolled his eyes, disappointed at not getting to scrape Loki up off of the floor again. Natasha offered him a shirt, having pulled it out of thin air it seemed, though she only smirked when Bruce asked her about it, and he buttoned it up in silence. They kept the questions to a minimum, waiting instead until Loki and Tony wandered in to join them.

_XXX_

They managed to get through the next month without another 'incident', as the Avengers had taken to calling it; whereas Tony was less subtle and referred to those events as awesome moments of Hulkage. Loki spent most of his time avoiding Thor or Barton, both of whom spent very little time in the workshop for reasons of being not quite able to understand Tony's technobabble. So Loki spent most of his time down there with Tony Stark. Sometimes Bruce would be there, and Tony would work together with the scientist on a project or two while Loki hovered in the background, only feeling secure enough to offer his opinion once Banner was gone again.

He was mostly behaved because Banner lived with them, so the threat of punishment hung over his head every moment of every day, the worst moments being at night as Thor expected the married couple to share a bed. He had placed Loki's belongings inside of Banner's bedroom without informing either of them, and when the Avengers had finished quizzing him and Tony about their only sexual encounter Thor had offered to walk Loki to his room and instead brought him to Bruce's. The Hulk had another incident that night, after Bruce tiredly flopped into his bed, lights off and clothes off, only to land on top of Loki, fast asleep but waking quickly, magic shooting from his fingers and through Bruce. Fortunately for Loki, Jarvis had summoned Tony the moment Bruce had closed the door behind him, realising Bruce didn't know Loki was there but not wanting to startle the doctor himself.

Tony had taken the brunt of the Hulk's anger, pain driving him half-mad as he broke and threw things around, and punched Tony (who had fortunately suited up along the way) back through the doorway. But it had taken the attention off of Loki, who was still able to teleport and smart enough to disappear the moment the Hulk's back was turned.

So for the last month Loki had barely slept, curled up in the foetal position in the middle of the bed while Bruce camped out on a blow up mattress on the floor, pressed right against the door, which had been refitted to swing outwards in case he needed to make a quick escape. Thor refused to hear anything of them having separate bedrooms, so they made do. Bruce slept well enough, not fearing Loki and meditating every night to help him keep calm before sleep settled over him, but Loki had taken to sleeping in the lab while Tony worked, exhaustion weighing heavy on him until Tony pushed him down across the desk, one hand on his shoulder, and ordered softly, "Sleep. It's ok, I got you."

It was at the close of that month, as August was just settling in and the leaves were tinged with just the hint of brown and red and the heat had crested and was beginning to fade again, that Loki first noticed Tony Stark truly womanise. Pepper hadn't reacted well when Tony had finally worked up the nerve to tell her he'd fucked Loki, alien world-conqueror-wannabe. She'd encouraged him to sleep with Bruce, though she hadn't been happy about it per se, but her exact words had been, "fuck the man and get it out of your system, Tony." But he'd had her permission, Tony had talked to her about it, and though this time he had practically been ordered to do the dirty on her with Loki by the Allfather himself, he'd been too much of a coward to tell her about it straight away. Tony had waited a week, tried to psych himself up to the task, and in the end Pepper had found out accidentally, walking in on Thor asking Bruce over scrambled eggs if the Man of Iron was as good in bed as Loki claims he was.

So they'd fought and Tony had hid behind the excuse of Odin made him, refusing to apologise for something he hadn't actively chosen to do and in doing so he hadn't apologised for hurting her either. Pepper had left. She hadn't left the company, or the Tower if she was needed there, or Tony, not completely. She was still there when he needed her, still his friend, still his confidant, but she had left his bed and with that he had left the piece of her heart that was reserved for a lover, so while she continued to love him she didn't _love_ him, and Tony found that after the pain had stopped being so raw and he'd lost the urge to drown in alcohol he'd felt the same.

So he fell back into his old routine; a new girl every night, a man once every two months but on the down-low, rich, famous men who wouldn't sell the story because they'd end up in the lime light as well; never going back for seconds. Loki caught him one night, with a brunette pinned against the wall by Tony's hips, legs around his waist and nails raking down his back. Tony had turned to look at him, to see what had the girl trying to push him away, and he had thought as he met Loki's eyes that the God was about to have a Hulk out of his own. Green eyes blazed with anger and magic, and though he had less than he used to, he forced his seiðr to pool at his fingertips, ready and willing to eradicate the parasite that had latched herself onto Tony Stark.

"Hey, hey," Tony shouted. He pulled away from the woman, though he kept his eyes on Loki and his hands out as if trying to calm a skittish animal. "I think you better leave, Bethy," Tony murmured, nodding towards the hallway they had just come down.

"It's Stephy," the girl huffed, though she was smart enough not to argue against her dismissal. She pulled her shirt tighter around herself, ignoring the fact that Tony had ripped off half of the buttons, and ran back the way she came, stopping to grab her shoes with one hand, pulling them out from the table where they were kicked when Tony stopped to unbutton her shorts.

"Loki, you ok?" Tony moved towards him slowly, hands still raised.

The green disappeared the instant the girl was out of sight. Instead, a red flush covered Loki's face, and he glanced shyly at Tony through his lashes, head lowered. When Tony's hand cupped his face, making Loki raise it, the God sighed. Jealousy was something he had long grown used to feeling, but he had never been in this position before, to want something and to watch others have it instead was an everyday occurrence in his life, but to want something and to have _had it_ and still have to watch others take from him was something else entirely. He could admit to himself that perhaps he had over reacted, because the girl obviously couldn't have known that Tony was taken, but jealousy was an ugly emotion and Loki had done worse for fewer reasons before.

He kissed Tony then, hard and desperate, his body pushing Tony's back until they hit the wall. Tony returned his kiss for a second, just one second where lips moved against his own, and they were warm and wanting and familiar, before hands were pushing him away instead of pulling him closer.

"No, hey, Loki stop!" Tony cried, struggling to push the God away. Even without most of his magic, Loki was stronger than him, heavier and denser and Tony only managed to get free because Loki allowed it.

"I don't understand." Loki's hands were clenched at his sides, trembling despite how hard he tried to keep them still. His face was flushed from embarrassment now, cheeks dark and eyes watering slightly, clinging to his lashes as he furiously tried to blink back the tears.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Nothing we have not already done," Loki told him, his eyebrows furrowing with confusion as Tony took another step away from him. "I am yours, am I not? I have waited for you to take me again, but I grow bored of waiting."

"Take you? What?" Tony laughed suddenly, head thrown back and hand pressed over the arc reactor, fingers fluttering lightly as his chest rumbled. "I fucked you because it was in everyone's best interest that Bruce didn't. I'm not going to fuck you again, Loki. You're married to Bruce, Bruce likes you and he's my friend. I could never do that to him. I have a bad enough track record already, Rudolph."

"But…" Loki tried to protest, but one of Tony's hands landed on his shoulder.

"Bruce likes you. He's not going to hurt you on purpose, so why don't you give him a chance?"

"Don't you like me?" He hated how pathetic he sounded, needy and clingy, desperate for any scrap of affection Tony might offer him. But Tony smiled widely at him, and Loki couldn't bring himself to say how much he hated Bruce for being his husband instead of Tony, how much he feared him so much so that he lay awake for most of every night and that was why he slept in the lab so much (not because he and Bruce experimented sexually in anyway like Tony liked to insinuate), nor how much he had come to care for Tony who had wanted him and now didn't, and Loki worried that he had waited too long before saying something.

"Of course I like you, Loki. Very much," Tony told him. One hand came up again to cup his face, thumb brushing softly over Loki's bottom lip as Tony spoke. "But Bruce is my friend."

Tony left him like that, stumbling towards the elevator, the buzz of alcohol still surrounding him. Loki watched him go, leaning back against the wall with furrowed brows and a frown. He didn't understand what Tony meant, other than he wouldn't lie with him because of Bruce. He thought of asking Clint, who had unfortunately taken up the habit of crawling around the air vents, but also of following Loki around while crawling in the air vents because he didn't trust the God enough to leave him unsupervised. Loki decided against it, but it didn't matter what he wanted apparently because Clint was already dropping down in front of him, bow strapped tight against his back because he went nowhere near Loki without it.

The archer was smirking, conceited and horrible and Loki wanted to hurt him but didn't because Bruce was asleep just behind them and the Hulk got angry if you woke him up prematurely.

"Bros before hoes, asshole," Clint sing-songed, voice as smug as the grin he wore. He flipped Loki the bird and walked down the hallway the opposite way Tony had gone, and disappeared.

_XXX_

Loki waited another month and a half, until the chill had firmly set in around them, the air smelling the tiniest bit like frost if it blew across you just right and the trees were barren. Tony continued to teach him about science and technology, and Steve brought him around the city whenever Loki wanted to visit some place. Clint stalked him through the tower, and Natasha mostly avoided him while he mostly avoided Thor. But Bruce always seemed to be around since the night Loki had accosted Tony. Loki had talked to him, explained about the girl he had seen Tony with, about how he felt about that and Tony's response.

Bruce had laughed, carefully patting him on the arm and murmuring consolingly, "Tony doesn't do sloppy seconds, Loki. I'm sorry." He had turned back to his book then, ignoring Loki completely, and the God had ignored his words in turn because they sounded like nothing more than the petty words of a jealous man who supposedly 'liked' him. Of course he would try and keep Loki from Tony, the God realised, frowning every time Bruce joined them in the lab, snarling with lips curled back over his teeth whenever Bruce dropped down beside him into the two seater armchair Loki always tried to share with Tony, forcing Tony to take the recliner.

Bruce and Tony had talked as well, mostly about Loki, but also about their own experience. It hadn't ended badly, but it hadn't exactly gone well, and though there were feelings there they weren't deep enough to explore. Bruce still loved Betty Ross and Tony had loved Pepper at the time, and now Tony found his eyes following Loki around any room the God was in, his ears listening out for the sound of Loki's voice even while blocking out all others, and his heart picked up whenever the man smiled at him or glanced at him or pressed their bodies together while sharing lab space. And that wasn't good, because Bruce talked about Loki a lot too. He was well behaved, interesting, attractive, intelligent, and though they were far from declarations of love, Tony could see the interest in Bruce's eyes that in his own would have meant he wanted a relationship. Bruce didn't though, but Tony didn't know that. So Tony made sure, with Jarvis' help, that Loki and Bruce spent as much time together as possible, trying to force them to fall into a relationship that neither wanted because he thought he was being a good friend.

Loki let it continue for six weeks before he felt he had learnt enough of Tony's nightly schedule to throw a wrench in it.

It had been easy to convince Thor to take him out drinking. Any suggestion at all of spending time with his not-brother (who he was slowly but surely beginning to think of as his brother again) had Thor bouncing around him like an overly eager puppy. Thor had cajoled Steve and Natasha into joining them, Bruce bowing out gracefully and Clint inviting himself along to keep an eye on Loki, who after two and a half months was still only trusted as far as Clint could throw him, which wasn't far.

They had coincidentally, though not really, ended up at the same bar Tony had gone to. Loki could see the engineer clearly; the throng of people in the bar seemed to spread out around him, parting like the Red Sea anytime Tony moved at all. It was gratifying, gazes full of adoration and desire fixed upon Tony's back, people keeping their distance out of respect and the hope that if they didn't crowd him Tony would choose to go home with them, but Loki snarled at every single one of them in turn. Thor bought the first round of drinks, having thought ahead enough when returning Loki to Midgard to bring pockets full of gold along with him this time, despite the fact that as an Avenger he was also on SHIELD's payroll. Steve and Natasha secured a table, and Clint kept Loki securely by his side until Thor returned.

Green eyes never strayed too far from Tony, watching and scrutinising anyone the man took an interest in. His heart beat furiously as a tall, dark haired man leant down to whisper something in Tony's ear before they both slipped out of their seats and began walking towards the door.

It took only the tiniest spark of seiðr, fingers brushing Clint's wrist, to have the man jump out of his seat suddenly nauseous. He ran to the bathroom, and Steve followed him, shouting "are you ok?" at the archer's retreating back. Natasha and Thor were busily engaged in a drinking competition, each taking turns at the bar and returning with trays of shots after trays of straight liquor and finally just bringing back full bottles of alcohol and pouring their own measures. Thor was oblivious when Loki stood up, slipping around their chairs and making his way after Tony, but Natasha threw him a wink and a half-smile and Loki couldn't help but smile back.

It wasn't hard to get rid of Tony's shadow. While the engineer popped outside to call Happy and his car around, Loki changed, skin twisting and features sliding until he was left with brown hair and brown eyes and five inches less than he was used to in height.

"Tony, you're back." The man grinned at him, leaning forward to try and kiss him.

Loki only raised one eyebrow, drawing back a little and a little more until the other man got the hint.

"Evidentially," Loki drawled, with a smirk. "Unfortunately, someone else has come up. You are no longer necessary, not that you ever were mind." From the doorway, a figure stepped forward, drawing the stranger's attention to Loki's clone that did look very similar in appearance to Tony's potential fuck. The man's eyes went wide as the clone moved forward to wrap pale arms around 'Tony's' waist from behind. Loki wouldn't deny it if asked, but nor would he come out and say it either because surely the Avengers would disapprove, but Loki took great pleasure in the hurt that flashed across the strangers face. He would probably go inside now and tell all of his friends how rude Tony Stark was, how cruel, how much of a heartless bastard, but that would be ok Loki decided as long as the man would go.

"Fuck you, Stark," the man spat. He turned on his heel, hands clenching at his sides, but he obediently disappeared back into the bar.

Loki shifted again, changing just enough about himself to better resemble the rejected stranger, and his clone disappeared with a flick of his wrist. Tony ducked back into the building, a huge grin splitting his face when he saw the man who looked a hell of a lot like Loki but fortunately wasn't married to any of his friends. "Come on, Happy's waiting outside."

Loki took hold of the hand Tony offered him, allowing the man to lead him towards the parking lot and the sleek black car that waited there with its engine still running. Once the black door was closed behind them, Loki leant over the seats to pull the keys from the ignition. He locked the doors from the inside, dropping the keys onto the front seat and ignored Happy banging at the driver's window. He didn't want to return to the Tower, too concerned that Bruce would be able to smell him even when he wasn't the Hulk, afraid that familiar settings would give the game away. So he ignored the furrowed look Tony was shooting him, crawling into the man's lap with a wide smile.

"I can't wait to have you," he whispered, pitching his voice lower so that it was less like his own and more like the owner of this particular appearance.

"Fuck Luke, that's hot." Tony muttered against Loki's pale neck. Luke's neck, rather. Similar in appearance, and similar in names, Loki thought with a snort, before ducking his head down to catch Tony's mouth in a hard kiss. It was desperate and needy, like the last time they had kissed, and Loki wondered if it was because Tony knew somehow that it was him or if Tony always kissed like he would die without it.

They fucked like that, with Loki bouncing in Tony's lap and Tony's shirt still pulled down over the arc reactor. He was less nervous this time, less unsure because he had done this before and Tony had taken care of him very well, more confident because Bruce was not watching them, Jarvis was not watching them, and no one was waiting in the kitchen to hear whether the consummation had been a success or not. When Loki came it was with a scream of the engineer's name, loud enough to startle Happy into silence (unable to see what was happening through the tinted windows and worried for the safety of his boss, but now knowing exactly what was happening though he wasn't particularly surprised). It was followed by a snarl, and desperate lips pressing to Tony's mouth hard enough that Loki's teeth caught pale lips and made them bleed; anything to stop the cry of "Luke!" before the sound could be completed.

Logic was lost to him at the sound of a stranger's name. Loki was so angry at Tony for thinking of another man while they were together forgetting completely that Tony didn't know it was him, that he didn't reveal himself like he had planned to. Instead, he dressed and stormed out of the car, back into the bar determined to make Thor take him home so that he could sulk in bed. But Tony took that as permission to dress himself and head back inside as well, but instead to search for a second person to grace with his presence for the night.

When Loki saw him, flirting with a dark haired, green eyed girl at the entrance to the bathroom, he shoved angrily at Thor's hand until it fell from his shoulder. He was female before he had even reached them, following the girl into the bathroom to make sure she didn't come out before he and Tony were long gone, and then he left himself smiling widely at the sight of Tony waiting for her.

Thor nudged Natasha, who was bemoaning her loss of their bet, because he had known and seen Loki do this before, change his appearance to make the person he liked like him back, and it was terrible and cruel and unfair, but Thor had already known that Loki loved Stark beyond logic. They were too alike not to care for one another and it was for that reason, and Loki's own admission of interest in the Man of Iron that had ruled him out as Loki's keeper, not his lack of abnormal strength.

This was what jealousy drove him to; destruction and madness and ruin, but at least Thor had won another free round of drinks from the Black Widow. They retook their seats at the vacated table, allowing Tony and Loki to return to the Tower first, granting them the semblance of privacy, and this time Loki waited until they arrived before he jumped Tony's bones (because no way was he giving the man _another_ chance to find _another_ bedfellow.

_XXX_

It was the morning after the night before and Tony was surprised when he woke up to realise that his date had disappeared already. He thanked Jarvis, who denied having gotten rid of her, and Tony had frowned, knowing neither Happy nor Pepper had done the dirty work for him this morning either, but then shrugged and smiled and figured she had been one of the decent sorts of women (or, rather, the ones like him who were looking for a good time and not a ring on their finger). The Avengers had assembled in the kitchen, and Loki was whistling as he poured the coffee, happy enough to help Bruce make breakfast this morning because they took shifts in pairs and Tony was useless at anything other than burning food so he had been kicked off the rota once Loki joined them.

"You're rather chipper this morning, Rudolph?" Tony shot him a concerned look, turning to glance at Thor who only grinned and then at Bruce and Natasha who rolled their eyes like they couldn't believe the genius could be so stupid. Steve was oblivious and Clint was scowling, still rubbing his upset stomach though there was nothing he could think of eating that would have made him this sick.

"Good morning, Tony!" Loki shoved a cup of coffee into his hands, smiling widely when the man thanked him. He followed it up with a helping of French toast, stolen away from Bruce's frying pan before the scientist could plate it up himself. When Tony put down the cup to take the plate, Loki pulled him into a kiss with both hands on the collar of Tony's t-shirt to stop him wriggling out of reach. "And what a good morning it is."

"We've talked about this, Loki," Tony tried to say, futilely trying to pry Loki's hands off of his clothing.

"Maybe we should leave guys?" Steve looked around at the others, Natasha had pulled popcorn from somewhere and was sharing it with Clint and Thor had a full packet of unheated pop tarts open on his plate, stuffing one after the other into his mouth as he watched the scene in rapt silence. Bruce continued cooking, frying the bread and flipping it, handing it out to the silent spectators as it was ready.

"This has been a long time coming, Steve. We all want to see how it goes," Bruce told him, setting down Steve's plate on the table.

Steve took it gratefully, shrugging a little as he tried to fight down the blush on his cheeks. Loki had shoved Tony into a chair and tried to crawl onto his lap only to find himself knocked to the floor, kneeling between Tony's spread legs and looking a little too happy to be there.

"I told you! Bruce is my friend, Loki. I can't fuck you again because you're married to him!"

"That didn't stop you last night!" Loki hissed, jumping angrily to his feet like a cat after it had been stepped on; if he had fur it would be bristled. "Neither time last night, in fact!"

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

Loki swallowed, and one fist clenched in front of his chest unsure if it wanted to punch Tony or not. But instead Loki allowed his form to shift, becoming Luke first and then the dark haired girl whose name Tony had never used. Tony watched with wide eyes, mouth hanging open before he turned to Bruce looking absolutely devastated.

"I am so _sorry_, Bruce! If I had known I would never have-" Bruce cut him off, a hand falling heavily on his shoulder and the beast's proximity sending Loki scurrying to the other side of the kitchen against his will.

"Why do you think I'd care?" Bruce asked slowly, sinking down into the chair that was empty beside Tony. "Honestly Tony, it's nice that you think so highly of me that you don't want to help my husband," and he snorted at that word, finding it weird and distasteful, "cheat on me. But I don't understand why you'd think I'd care. If anything, I should be glad it's you and not some stranger he's bringing back home."

"But you like him?" Tony couldn't have looked more surprised if he had tried when both Loki and Bruce laughed darkly at that. "You said he was interesting and intelligent?" Tony reminded him.

"Attractive?" Bruce added, suddenly remembering the conversation Tony was referring to. "Well behaved? Not exactly a declaration of my undying devotion, Tony."

"But you said he was interesting."

"To you. Tony, I said he was interesting to you, because you found him intelligent and you liked to talk about magic and science being the same thing while I was working on the other side of the lab and you're the one who kept telling me how attractive he was."

"I thought you were just shy! I was trying to help you see his good points!"

"What good points, Tony? Honestly, he doesn't have many!" Bruce rolled his eyes at Tony's affronted expression. He ignored the flinch Loki gave and Thor's angry snarl and kept his eyes on Tony.

"He's funny, and interesting and tells great stories. I want to pick his brain apart and see how it works because he's brilliant and clever but fucking crazy. He's strong and dangerous but I like that because it's exciting, and even though he listens to me and he trusted me to protect him from you. And I think it's great that he's afraid of you, because vulnerability makes you human, makes people like you, and I like him. He's a horrible person sometimes, because a lot of those myths were true, but he hasn't said a word against anyone here because he's too clever to alienate you all more than he already has. He's sneaky and tricky and manipulative, apparently jealous enough to pretend to be other people to sleep with me, and kind pathetic, Rudolph to be honest, but at the same time really flattering and flattery is _hot_. He's blue sometimes, and you all know after red and gold blue is my next favourite colour and I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get to fuck him while he was blue and at the time I didn't care but now I'm annoyed that you were in the room that night Bruce, and I'm sorry because you like him but I like him too."

The man stopped rambling when Bruce raised one hand to press over Tony's mouth softly. "I don't like him. We can barely stand to be around one another and yes, Loki is terrified of me. Not a good marriage does that make, hmm? So if you guys want to, you know, do what you do, then it's fine by me." Bruce pulled Tony out of his chair, jerking him around until he was facing Loki, and then gave him a shove. "Now, go kiss him already, because _this_ is pathetic."

"Hey Thor?" Natasha asked, even though her eyes stayed fixed on the couple in the middle of the kitchen kissing like their lives depended on it. "Did your Father say anything about how long they have to stay together for? Him and Bruce?"

Thor smirked suddenly, coming to the same conclusion as Natasha had, not half as stupid as people make him out to be. "No, the Allfather did not."

"What guys?" Clint asked, too busy trying not to get sick at the sight of Tony pressed back against the kitchen counter with Loki trying to climb him like a tree to have been paying attention. Steve's face was bright red but even he couldn't look away. It was impossible to do so and Clint hated himself a little for watching.

"Jarvis, do you think you can find a court willing to annul this farce of a marriage without SHIELD finding out that Loki is back on Earth?" Bruce had gone back to making toast, sad to note that the portions he had already made had gone cold and mostly uneaten.

He plated up when the food was ready and everyone but the two men still kissing took a seat at the table, pulling food and beverages towards themselves, talking softly and occasionally sneaking glances at Tony and Loki. It was only when Loki let out a particularly loud moan; Tony's hands down the front of his trousers and his shirt discarded somewhere that Clint had seen enough.

"Ok, ok, out! Get out! Get a room!"

"I have a room, Barton," Tony teased with a smirk, "I have this room, that room, those rooms over there," he said pointing at each of the visible rooms leading away from the kitchen. "In fact I own all the rooms in this Tower. So you get a room." He pulled Loki against himself again but the God drew back when he heard Jarvis' murmurs of 'Divorce'.

"What?" He asked, both eyes narrowed and glancing sharply at each of them in turn.

"We've decided," Steve told him diplomatically, trying to keep Bruce from looking like he was trying to get rid of Loki or Thor from appearing to be setting his brother up, because surely Loki would do the opposite of what either of them wanted out of spite. "Since the Allfather wasn't very clear about the duration of your punishment, that you were married to Bruce and so now you no longer need to be. You like Tony, right? So you'll stick around the Tower anyway and we can keep an eye on you and if they have a problem with it they can come down here and take it up with us. Tony's never had a problem with keeping people from taking his stuff before, so," Steve smiled as he trailed off with a shrug, voice soft and quiet.

"And if they do manage to take stuff from me, I hunt them down and blow them to itty bitty pieces." Tony grinned widely, looking almost feral.

Loki seemed to think it over, nodding his approval before pressing a soft kiss to Tony's mouth again. "So you will marry me instead?" He asked, looking completely serious. Thor's expression matched his brother's, and the Thunderer couldn't lie for shit so Tony guessed that Loki wasn't messing.

He coughed, choking on air for a moment before he managed to let loose a nervous chuckle. "It's a bit soon for me, Rock of Ages. Tell you what, let's take things day by day and ask me again after a year, yeah?"

"But you like me?" Loki sounded unsure again, shoulders hunching and fingers twisting around each other in front of his stomach as he glanced at Tony from beneath his lashes.

"Yeah. I like you."

"I like you too," Loki told him, as if Tony hadn't already known. Tony's hand was on Loki's face, fingers brushing softly over his cheek and lips, rubbing soothing circles into the skin as green eyes watched him, less cautious now than a moment ago.

"I think the word both of you are looking for is 'love'," Bruce interjected, ruining their tender moment. They turned around to look at him, both sets of eyes wide, though Loki's were from shock that anyone had noticed and Tony's were mostly wide with denial, mouth opening to shoot that suggestion down.

But Clint beat him to it.

"Ha!" The archer snorted, "oh Tony I love you," he mimicked Loki's voice. "Oh Loki I love you too, smooch, smooch, smooch," he added, trying to sound like Tony. He had both hands up and curled, using his thumbs as little mouths as his hand puppets talked. "Love you, love you, love you, urg you guys are sickening!" He was wearing the same smug grin that he was always wearing whenever Clint managed to corner Loki, the same condescension in his voice, the same amusement at Loki's expense the night he had told Loki, "bros over hoes, asshole!" But this time Loki didn't resist. He strode forward in a second, arm cocked and fist curled and let rip, slamming his knuckles right into Clint's jaw. The archer rocked backwards, toppling off of his chair with a grunt of pain and meeting the ground with a thump that echoed throughout the room. Tony watched with a smirk, because Clint really had been asking for it over the past eleven weeks. It couldn't have come at a better time either, Tony thought while leering at Loki's ass through his pants, because now they could fight about Loki hurting Tony's friend and then have brilliant make up sex.

"Loki! What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Tony shouted, grinding his teeth as Loki turned to look at him. The God looked terribly contrite, and his hands were clenching at his sides again but this time Tony thought it was because the feeling of nails digging into his palms kept the tears from falling.

The God opened his mouth to apologise, but Tony waved a finger in his face, silencing him. "Don't even try and excuse yourself. I'm so fucking angry with you!" Thor looked like he was about to protest but Natasha's hand on one shoulder and Bruce's offering of more pop tarts silenced him for the time being. It was only the half-smile on the Widow's face, the same one she had offered Loki when she had caught him sneaking away from them at the bar, that kept Loki from feeling hurt by Thor's lack of defence. "We need to talk about this, you know. You can't just go around hitting my friends, Loki."

"Yeah, man," Clint hollered as he picked himself up off of the ground. He held one hand over his nose, rolling his jaw to work out the ache. "Mates before dates, right Tony?"

"You know I'm going to have to punish you for this, right?" Tony asked, folding his arms across his chest at the same time. He allowed one eyebrow to climb higher on his forehead than the other and his lips quirked and the proverbial light bulb lit up over Loki's head.

"Oh!" The man gasped. "Oh yes, do punish me, Tony. I've been a very naughty boy."

"What," Clint breathed, sounding horrified as Tony corralled Loki out of the room, "the fuck? What happened to dicks before chicks?"

"My brother is not female," Thor pointed out through a mouthful of toast, having finished two boxes of pop tarts and moved on to Tony's abandoned breakfast. "Nor is he a young bird, if that is what you meant by 'chick'?"

Clint just shot him a dirty look, giving Natasha one too when she laughed softly at his expense. "You guys all suck. I'm going out. I don't want to listen to them going at it."

"But Clint," Steve said suddenly, sounding shocked and confused, "I though you didn't trust Loki to be left alone. What if he does something to Tony?" Blue eyes widened, and Clint dashed from the room, stopping only to grab his bow and quiver on the way, so distrustful of Loki that he hadn't noticed Captain America, of all people, had played him. "That was mean," Steve added once Clint was out of sight, "but funny."

"Very much deserved." Bruce added. "Though Tony probably deserves some hardship considering how obtuse he was these last few weeks. Some genius, huh?"

Natasha nodded. "Pepper used to say it all the time. Clever, stupid man. Unbelievably smart when it came to machines but an idiot when it came to people." She stood up, straightened her clothes and brushed off any stray crumbs. "But Clint is right, I really don't want to hear them because Tony has a habit of making a show of his conquests."

"Loki was sort of loud that time when I was there." Bruce agreed, running his hands through his hair anxiously.

"Perhaps a trip outside would be advisable?" Thor added, hurrying to grab Mjölnir and be ready in case the others left without him.

"Do you think we should tell Clint?" Steve looked around at the others, then thought better of listening in on Loki and Tony and glanced at the ceiling instead. "Hey Jarvis, can you tell Clint we've left please?"

"It would be my pleasure, Sir," the A.I. announced, voice sounding through the whole room instead of from just one place and it made Steve shudder, feeling a little claustrophobic all of a sudden. "He is most displeased with you all, I'm afraid," Jarvis spoke up again just as they were leaving the elevator on the bottom floor. "He says, well, some rather unflattering things about your dicks. Or your lack of them, rather."

"So we are all chicks?" Thor wondered out loud. "How unusual your Midgardian insults are." He shook his head fondly, and kept walking, so the others followed him. When Loki came with a shriek of Tony's name, it was the straw that broke the camel's back and Clint came running down the corridor and to the elevator faster than Jarvis had ever seen him move before. He found the others in a restaurant around the corner, joining them sullenly and enduring their ribbing with ill-concealed annoyance, demanding fries to make it up to him.

Tony looked at Loki and Loki glanced up at the air vent in the corner of their room before they both began laughing. "We are horrible people," Tony whispered against the skin of Loki's neck.

"We deserve each other, my beloved," Loki whispered back. He leant forward to press their lips together again, soft and slow this time, none of the desperation that had been present in all of their times together before, because this time they were each other's, this time they were together and nothing was waiting to split them apart.

"Mine," Loki whispered when they pulled away, panting lightly against each other's' faces.

Tony took in the bite marks that marred the skin of Loki's throat and shoulders, the bruises around his nipples where Tony had sucked and bitten and pulled at them, the hand prints on his pale hips because Tony had held on to him tight enough to hurt but Loki hadn't once complained, and the red across his arse where Loki had been punished and loved every second of it. Loki, who had been worried about hurting Tony with his supernatural strength, was a fair sight more owned than Tony looked. So the engineer smirked, eyes bright as they travelled over the length of his lover and back up again. Their mouths pressed together once more, just barely touching as Tony spoke, the word slipping into Loki's mouth, becoming his air as sound was lost between them except for pants and moans:

"Mine," Tony had replied.

**The End**

Thanks for reading. Let me know what you thought.

A Tony/Bruce oneshot is to follow :)


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